2007 Coastal Living Awards: Leadership

When Stan Stephens fell asleep March 23, 1989, in Valdez,
Alaska, he imagined waking to an ordinary morning. Instead, the
tour-boat captain spent the Good Friday holiday hauling oil-company
officials to the hemorrhaging tanker
Exxon Valdez. They witnessed a fiasco: 11 million gallons of
crude oil wicking through the pristine Prince William Sound
wilderness.

By September, Valdez residents had formed the Regional Citizens'
Advisory Council (RCAC). Now 72, Stan is serving one of many terms
as its president. Guided by his steady voice and dedication, RCAC
works to keep the Alyeska oil conglomerate investing in spill
protections: "Now every tanker shipping out of here has a double
hull and two engines, and it's escorted by two tugs," Stan says of
key changes.

Industry temptations to cut costs, coupled with frequent oil
spills in other waters around the globe, keep Stan and the RCAC
eagle-eyed. "We're just citizens who care about where we live,"
Stan says. "We want to maintain safety in Prince William Sound, and
we're on a world watch. Right now we're communicating with
citizen-based groups on Puget Sound, where a lot of crude oil
passes through. They need protection."

"But we're not negative," he adds. "We work with the oil
industry for solutions on moving natural resources in the right
way." That's especially crucial because "once you spill, you won't
ever fully clean it up," he says.

Known to locals as the "Keeper of the Sound," Stan calls Prince
William Sound the most beautiful place in the world. Every year he
and his company sail 16,000 to 22,000 day-trippers into the scenic
spectacle, and he exudes quiet confidence that it will remain thus.
"This is probably the safest harbor for moving oil on the water
that exists anywhere today," he says.